TY - JOUR
T1 - Limits to policy-led innovation and industry development in US biofuels
AU - Kedron, Peter
AU - Bagchi-Sen, Sharmistha
N1 - Funding Information:
We gratefully acknowledge the support of the National Science Foundation under grant number BCS-1338970. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
PY - 2017/5/28
Y1 - 2017/5/28
N2 - Renewable energy industries that replace fossil fuels with biomass-based alternatives are at the forefront of a shift to and an advanced bioeconomy. In the United States, government policies promote second-generation liquid biofuels that use non-food feedstocks like switchgrass to foster industry development. Although government policies and related industry activity created a market niche for switchgrass biofuels, geographic, technical, and institutional barriers limit industry development and regional branching. Policy alone has not been enough to disrupt an industry path dominated by corn-based production. Formation of a switchgrass-based biofuel industry depends on stabilisation of production around a series of inter-related process innovations. Unlike corn-based biofuels, switchgrass and other cellulosic biofuels have no single existing related industry value chain to use to resolve coordination problems. The experience with switchgrass sheds light on the innovation process in general by drawing attention to the early stage of science and technology development.
AB - Renewable energy industries that replace fossil fuels with biomass-based alternatives are at the forefront of a shift to and an advanced bioeconomy. In the United States, government policies promote second-generation liquid biofuels that use non-food feedstocks like switchgrass to foster industry development. Although government policies and related industry activity created a market niche for switchgrass biofuels, geographic, technical, and institutional barriers limit industry development and regional branching. Policy alone has not been enough to disrupt an industry path dominated by corn-based production. Formation of a switchgrass-based biofuel industry depends on stabilisation of production around a series of inter-related process innovations. Unlike corn-based biofuels, switchgrass and other cellulosic biofuels have no single existing related industry value chain to use to resolve coordination problems. The experience with switchgrass sheds light on the innovation process in general by drawing attention to the early stage of science and technology development.
KW - Innovation studies
KW - green technology
KW - technological change and dynamics
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U2 - 10.1080/09537325.2016.1227066
DO - 10.1080/09537325.2016.1227066
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84986237308
SN - 0953-7325
VL - 29
SP - 486
EP - 499
JO - Technology Analysis and Strategic Management
JF - Technology Analysis and Strategic Management
IS - 5
ER -